St. Charles Mayor Ray Rogina has proposed issuing late-night liquor licenses in the city that would establish a midnight closing time and give bar owners the option of obtaining a 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. permit at a higher cost.

The plan, discussed by the Liquor Control Commission at a recent meeting, is modeled after the liquor license code in Naperville, where restaurants and taverns with a license allowing them to sell alcohol until 11 p.m. have the additional option of a seeking late-night permit that authorizes the license holder to serve alcohol until 1 a.m. Monday through Friday and until 2 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Rogina said he'd like to see a similar code in St. Charles, and envisions a system in which only license-holders who are interested in staying open later than midnight would apply for the late-night permit.

He said the later permits would be granted on a set of yet-to-be-determined criteria.

The City Council would then review the late-night permits on an annual basis and could decide—if the license-holder gets a citation or a certain number of warnings—to downgrade an extension from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. or 1 a.m. to midnight.

Currently, licenses for bars and taverns allow the sale of alcohol until 2 a.m., according to city code.

The three commission members present at the meeting said they were in favor of Rogina's proposal.

Ald. Rita Anne Payleitner said she liked the idea, but added that, for the annual review portion of the code, it would be important to have an objective way to review businesses that "perhaps mislead us of their intents" to ensure decisions to continue or revoke late-night permits would be based on "more than just the whim of the council."

Police Chief James Lamkin said that it may be more difficult to determine how to approach license-holders at establishments with ongoing police activity.

"Those are going to be the issues that are going to be harder to hammer out," Lamkin said.

Rogina said the council could consider language that would allow the option of reducing a permit after a certain number of warnings or violations.

The costs of the permits will be determined at a later date, but Rogina said the 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. permits would be an additional cost to the license.

Under the current city code, liquor licenses for bars and taverns range from $4,000 to $6,000 with annual renewal fees of $2,000 to $3,000.

Rogina directed city staff members to come back to the commission next month with some criteria and language for the proposal.

He said he hopes to make the appropriate changes to the code by early 2014, in time for the spring licensing-renewal process.